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There are eight AAIU inspectors; each one covers about 8 to 10 accidents/incidents/events each on an ongoing basis. As each new one comes in, the Boss assigns manpower to the event, depending on the gravity of the situation, who's got a gap in his/her schedule, expertise on Type and so on. The Boss, as well as playing his part in investigating accidents in his own right, is also Head of Unit from a Civil Service point of view, so has to deal with all the political operations of the unit, as he answers directly to the Minister and is invariably required to answer questions from the Dail/media/Foreign AAIUs and so on. Each Inspector will be assigned to an Investigation by name and will be backed up by one or two others. As you can imagine, an incident or accident with fatalities involved gets a great deal more attention than some guy accidentally running his light aircraft into a hedge yet each one has to be dealt with. Big ones get a blizzard of media attention, as well as political attention and you can add gardai/military into the mix as well. The AAIU is a tiny unit, compared to virtually all of the Civil Service, yet is expected to punch it's weight to the standard of the UK's AAIB, as a base level.

Its CHC that need looking at as they are the contractors. Unless there is an implied responsibility by the state in the operation of the service out side the contract the issue lies with CHC. Hence the service was outsourced in the first place.

Other wise the state will end up providing the service directly...and as we know thats another world of shit we don't need to revisit.

Read the recommendation (the Minister is the issuing authority with regard to the SAR framework.

Because unlike reports that we are used to hearing about, the Minister received the AAIU at the same time as everyone else (they sometimes issue them in advance for those referred to to correct/comment)

Draft reports are sent to involved parties in an accident for their input/comment/correction, before final publication. Interim reports are simply an information release whilst the investigation is ongoing.